Gear, Grills, & Guns

Title: Gear, Grills, & Guns
Author: Tonya Kappes
Published: October 22, 2020 by Tonya Kappes Books
Format: Audio, Kindle 202 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: Camper & Criminals #13

Blurb: Mae West is bound to prove she deserves the seat she was appointed to on the National Park Committee when she brings a big car show to Normal during the slower fall month. But, when Wendell Holliday's body is found dead in one of Happy Trails Campground bungalows and one of the rentable campers is burning to the ground, Mae along with the help of the Laundry Club Ladies once again put on their sleuthing caps to figure out who is trying to sabotage Mae and her new position on the committee.

My Opinion: This installment has an energy that the previous book in the series, ‘Kickbacks, Kayaks, and Kidnapping’, was missing. Here, the characters seemed less muted and more themselves.

The slightly longer length worked in its favor. It gave the story room to grow, let the characters engage, and build those little moments that linger with the reader. I listened while driving, which is always a gamble when it comes to moments the author hopes you will keep in your back pocket, so I half expected to miss something crucial. But even with a few “Wait, did they just say, oh well, too late” moments, I didn’t guess the culprit until much later than usual. Once the reveal landed, I had that familiar “Ahhh, okay, I should’ve seen that” feeling. The clues were there, but Tonya Kappes layered them in with enough distraction that the escapades stayed fun.

And speaking of rides, this series has been floating around TV‑adaptation rumors for ages. With everything going on in the world, a little cozy escapism feels like something we could all use more of. Honestly, I’d love to see Hallmark Media take on the small‑town quirks, southern humor, and the comforting rhythm of the mysteries.

Dreamland

Title: Dreamland
Author: Olivie Blake
Published: August 13, 2026 by Tor
Format: Kindle, 368 Pages
Genre: Gothic / Occult

Blurb: As summer heat lingers in Los Angeles, girls are found murdered, the winds are blowing a strange energy into the city and wildfire warnings are everywhere. Yet Anya Morris has other things on her mind. A TV pilot should have been her big Hollywood break. But she lost out and now she’s willing to risk it all.

Enter William de Witt, an aging movie star who offers an unusual opportunity. His son Jude’s rare heath condition forces him to live as a recluse - and in exchange for spending time with him, William will grant her access to Hollywood’s most powerful circles. Wealth, influence and access are all on offer within the de Witt family mansion. However, behind the gilded veneer lie decades of bloodstained secrets. As her duties draw her deeper into their world, she wonders if the villa is cursed or if Jude himself is touched by the occult? Yet there’s a dark magnetism to him that Anya can’t resist, despite all the warning signs. As the city’s body count continues to rise, something has to give. There’s smoke in the air, but who will strike that final, fatal match?

My Opinion: I expect Olivie Blake’s books to have a spark, mixing the cleverness of Gifted & Talented with the surprise of Girl Dinner. But reading Dreamland felt like watching a favorite writer take a big swing and miss.

The book is full of atmosphere, but after a while, it feels like that’s all it has. Blake tries to mix Hollywood gothic, big ambitions, family decay, and psychological drama all at once. You can tell what she was aiming for, which makes it even more frustrating than if the book had just been bad.

Characters blur, motivations wander, and the narrative keeps gesturing toward something that kept losing me. I kept waiting for the book to settle, to sharpen, to commit. It never did. It just went on and on about a wannabe actress, caught up in a moldering old Hollywood home filled with people who sold their souls to the devil, all the while she developed a passionate and quite graphic relationship with an epileptic meat sack housing a devil; the author’s description, not mine.

And that’s the disappointment: Blake is capable of so much more. Here, she reaches so far, the core slips away. The novel wants to draw you in, but you can see the effort behind the illusion, and once you see the effort, the magic evaporates.

In the end, Dreamland isn’t a failure so much as a book that is trying too hard. A book that wanted to be a story about bad choices, with horror and murder, but ended up feeling hollow. I closed it wishing Blake had trusted her strengths instead of chasing a grander, murkier vision that never quite came together.

Kickbacks, Kayaks, & Kidnapping

Title: Kickbacks, Kayaks, & Kidnapping
Author: Tonya Kappes
Published: August 29, 2020 by Tonya Kappes Books
Format: Audiobook, 198 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: Camper & Criminals #12

Blurb: Deep in the heart of the Daniel Boone National Forest, Mae West has spent the last few years bringing the rundown Happy Trails Campground and the small southern and cozy town of Normal, Kentucky back to a thriving economic community.

Mae's efforts haven't gone unnoticed. Not only is Happy Trails Campground in the running to be named Campground Hospitality of the Daniel Boone National Park, but she landed the coveted Paddle Fest kayak competition that secures the winner a spot on the Olympic team.

When champion and Olympian kayaker Bryce Anderson turns over in his kayak dead...there's more than paddling going on and his death has been ruled a homicide. News of Bryce's death spreads fast and Happy Trails becomes the center of bad publicity.

My Opinion: Whenever I return to Tonya Kappas’s A Camper & Criminals Cozy series, I remember why it’s my go-to comfort listen. It’s not just background noise, but more like spending time with old friends. Once you know the characters, you can play the audiobook while cleaning or doing other things, and it still feels like you’re in a familiar world.

That’s why I come back to this series when I can’t get into other books. It works like a reading palate cleanser. I pick a title, listen to Johanna Parker’s relaxed southern accent, and soon I feel grounded and ready to try other genres again.

Now, this installment didn’t hit me quite the same way as earlier books. By the end, I realized the story had been meandering along with the characters sort of… wandering. Then suddenly, poof, everything wrapped up quickly, almost like the author glanced at the clock and said, “Alright, let’s tie this up and move on.”

One thing I’ve noticed, and appreciate, is that you don’t need to start at book one. Kappas sprinkles just enough backstory into each installment that you can jump in wherever you like without feeling lost. Maybe later books will shift that, but for now, it’s refreshingly low commitment.

As for the format, I’m sticking with audio. Some readers have pointed out issues with the self published print versions, and honestly, Parker’s narration smooths over any bumps. She keeps the tone light and friendly, even if I do have to nudge the speed up to compensate for her slow-as-molasses Southern cadence.

In the end, Kickbacks, Kayaks, and Kidnapping may not be the strongest entry, but it still delivers that familiar, cozy vibe I rely on this series for.

Backtrack

Title: Backtrack
Author: Marc Cameron
Published: July 28, 2026 by Kensington
Format: Kindle, 464 Pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Arliss Cutter #8

Blurb: 1977. D Wayne Cutter is a former U.S. Army Green Beret, part-time horseshoer, and a full-time Texas deputy sheriff with a second grandchild on the way when a quiet Sunday morning ends in murder and a manhunt. The theft of five million dollars in diamonds from an armored truck leaves two guards dead, one outlaw tracked down and taken out by Cutter, and another, Ricky Lee Pink—two-hundred-forty pounds of teenage rage—sentenced to life. The diamonds were never recovered. And Pinky never forgot that heist gone violently wrong.

2026. Following in the righteous footsteps of his late grandfather, Deputy U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter gets word that Pinky has been granted release. Nursing a grudge for decades, Pinky vows to avenge the murder of his criminal mentor and find the whereabouts of the stolen gems that he believes is a buried Cutter family secret. Boarding an Alaskan cruise ship, and joined by two miscreant cellmates and his penpal girlfriend, Pinky aims for Anchorge—home to his ultimate target: everyone Arliss holds near and dear. Arliss must move fast because Pinky has the edge. And he has the mind to make the last living Cutter pay.

My Opinion: It took me a minute to catch the meaning behind the title, but once that little lightbulb flicked on, I had to give Marc Cameron credit for the clever play on words and setting the tone for the direction with this installment. The problem is that once you move past that initial spark, the book starts feeling… stretched. Not in a “slow burn tension” way, but in a “wait, why is this 100 pages longer than the others?” way, and can we get to the point already.

About halfway through, the seams start to show. It reads like Cameron had two separate story ideas with Grumpy’s backstory on one side and Arliss’s ex wife on the other, and neither quite had the weight of a full novel. So, he stitched them together, hoping they’d harmonize. They don’t. Instead, you get a book that feels like it’s constantly shifting lanes, and you’re left wondering which plot you’re supposed to be emotionally invested in.

None of this is bad writing. Cameron still knows how to build a scene, and he still knows these characters. But the pieces don’t meld, and the pacing suffers for it. The heart of the series is usually Lola’s sharp, dry snark, and that doesn’t even show up until the last quarter. It’s like waiting for your favorite character to enter the room, only to realize they were sidelined for most of the story.

By the end, I found myself wanting this to be over and for the series to return to what it does best: Arliss and Lola working in rhythm, solving problems with grit and humor, without all the unnecessary detours. I am sure, somewhere along the way, Grumpy had a rule about that.